Health-care union leader sees need for increased funding

The prime minister’s proposed increase to health-care funding is a “good first step,” according to the head of a Saskatchewan health-care union.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a $196.1-billion, 10-year health-care deal Tuesday, with $46.2 billion of that being new spending.

Barbara Cape, president of Service Employees International Union West, said the focus seems to be on bolstering and rebuilding Canada’s health-care system.

“I think it’s not quite a deal yet, but it has the makings of a pretty good deal,” Cape said.

Cape said the funding increase could go a long way towards addressing the shortage of health-care workers in the province, helping with service backlogs and addressing mental health service concerns.

At its core, Cape said the funding boost is about improving services for the public and modernizing health care across the country — issues she said her members have been highlighting for years.

But the most pressing issue, Cape said, is the lack of skilled, trained health-care workers to provide services in Saskatchewan.

Cape said the issue goes beyond doctors and nurses. She said she wants to see investments made in trades and maintenance workers who are capable and skilled enough to care for aging health-care infrastructure in Saskatchewan and upgrade buildings to ensure top-quality care can be provided into the future.

An entire team of health workers — including specialists in areas like social care, psychiatry, surgery and family medicine — are also needed, Cape noted.

“We have been, piece by piece, dismantling and sort of undermining the system until we’re in the state that we’re in,” Cape said. “When we pull one more piece, the whole system starts to fall apart in front of us.”

As for the amount of funding, Cape asked if there is ever enough that could be spent on health care.

“We need to re-evaluate our commitment to the public health-care system and create a real commitment,” she said.

Cape said the province has a role to play with regards to health care, but said Premier Scott Moe and Trudeau need to “sort of get out of the way” to allow for health-care workers to figure out the best ways to improve the system.

“Both of them, quite frankly, for far too long have been playing political football with it,” Cape said. “As a health-care worker myself, I’m done with health care being such a political hot potato.”